Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 8, 1992 — Page AS _ SALMON FACTORIES Local crusader warns of threat | " ‘TERRACE —A local society is disappointed in the lack of response from the provincial government to what it calls ma- ‘jor: problems with B.C, salmon farms: - a Letters outlining what should be. ‘done’ to prevent diseases from spreading and fish ef- fluent. from building up on ocean floors below the farms haves gone- unanswered, says a Spokesman’ for the B.C. Coast Mat e Life Protection Society. Alois Schillinger, said the society is worried that disease problems with farm fish will af- fect wild stocks. “It is serious — for the sport fishery; for the tourists, for commercial’ fishery and for the native Tood fishery,’’ he said. “ati is serious — for the ‘sport fishery, for the tourists, for the commer- “cial fishery and for the oa native food fishery.” =. It’s particularly important for Skeena wild fish stocks because - ‘there are plans by southern ~ farms to relocate along the north coast, said Schillinger. -=!*What could happen here is what has happened in Norway. _-It-could take up to 10 years for rivers there to be productive again,” he.said. ‘§chillinger’s reference to Norwegian rivers follows the deliberate poisoning by the ‘government .there to rid the systems of mixed wild and farm stocks. - The society is also worried that farm salmon sold in stores aren't labelled as such. ’ That, says Schillinger, takes away the option of consumers to’choose whether they want to buy farm salmon or not." **" eokty re Another view He says this’ is. important because farm salmon are sub- ject to heavy dosages of an- tibiotics to, rid them of disease. “This is not to say that al! fish have antibiotics, but we feel the consumer should have a choice,’” said Schillinger, And, there are few govern- ment controls on farms selling fish that have been diseased or contain antibiotics, Schillingsr continues. “We are concerned —- 50 per cenl of diseased fish die in fish farms. What happens to the other 50 per cent?’ Schillinger said, The society wants testing pro- cedures at least as stringent as those that exist for beef, poultry and fowl, Schillinger feels that the former government's attitude to salmon farms by treating them as a major economic develop- ment is continuing in the new government, ; ‘The bureaucrats. are in the same positions as they were before, They’re doing the same thing,” he said,’ Letters sent to the govern- ment that remain unanswered include one to environment minister John Cashore, _ It asks for a moratorium on fish farm expansions until their impact has been assessed and - regulations are in place. Among the society’s other demands are for a ban -- as is the case in Norway — of an- tibiotics in B.C. coastal waters. It also wants fish farms to post security bonds to ensure sedimentation on.the ocean floor is removed before the farms receive permission to relocate. Schillinger said the society is planning a conference next spr- ing to address the issue. ill be. .inviting American scientists and representatives from. the Sierra Club, ofp ra geass in TH duel ALOIS SCHILLINGER says more stringent government controls are needed to monitor fish farms and — keep, their diseases, from. spreading and we the dhecee. gee ‘ Farmer defends methods _ Greg Goulet is operations ‘manager for Hardy Sea Farms inc,, af Poweil River. : By GREG GOULET Having been involved since 1986 in the aquaculture business Tam familliar with many of the common misconceptions about “salmon farming. It is common sense that the use of deadly toxic chemicals — _as claimed by many aquaculture ‘opponents — would kill the fish “that one is trying to rear as it is : imperative that salmon be in the : purest ‘of environments. The use of Flexguard and ‘copper as‘ anti-foulants on nets was disallowed in 1987 and at ‘that time [ would wager that the “B.C, Ferries fleet had more on its hulls than the aquaculture in- dustry. used in a year. ‘Hormones are used at the hatchery level to change the chromosomes of. males so their offspring are entirely female. A generation must pass to ac- complish | this. The reasoning here is-to eliminate 15 per cent _of your investment maturing or jacking. before they are marketable size. “It is true that antibiotics such as, Oxytetracycline are used to “combat and contral disease out- breaks. ‘These drugs | are prescribed by qualified veterinarians at which time - clearance periods are set accor- ding to dosage and water temperatures. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans samples fish at processing plants to menitor drug residues keeping all procedures in check. 1 would wager again that the beef, poultry or pork industry uses more antibiotics than the aquaculture industry, Most farms utilize divers dai- ly. When one swims between the net pens the variety of sea life is very noticeable, Perch and herr- ing seek refuge between the nets. Starfish cling to the floata- who wastes 20 per cent of his feed will not be in business very long. To put things in perspective, with some reasonable assump- tions we can deduce that if there are 140 farms and if each farm averages a surface area of 4,000 square metres then: the total area covered in B.C. by fish farms is not much more than half a square kilometre, I'll leave it to scientists to calculate the area of the ocean floor along the B.C. coast line. On the farm we blame the wild species for the _ transmitting of disease to our stocks. At the hat- chery the broodstock is screened for disease and positive fish are not used, The eggs are screened and positive eggs are destroyed. tion eating mussels and bar- nacles, Kelp grows on the nets and the prawn fishermen drop their traps as close to the farm as they can for an abundant catch, All these factors lead me to believe that salmon farming creates an island of -nourish- ment and safety for a variety of species. t If a farmer has chosen an area of fair current and depth, then feces is spread over a large area and is not allowed to ac- cumulate to the proportions claimed by some. Also at a cost ofa dollar per kilo any farmer On the farm we blame the wild species for the transmitting of disease to our stocks. At the hatchery the broudstock is screened for disease and -positive fish are not used, the eggs are’screened and positive eggs are destroyed. The smolts ‘are vaccinated at the hatchery before transport to sea and re- vaccinated a few weeks after they arrive. The farmer spends enormous amounts of money to ensure their investments are going to make it to market and survival is the key to success, Today we are lucky to get 75 per cent to market; this compares to ap- proximately 3 per cent of smolts released in the wild returning as spawners, Our dead fish are transported at the expense of the farmer to composting depots where they are mixed with wood chips and sold as fertilizers. The Ministry of Environment requires farmers regularly Teport levels of salinity, dissolv- ed oxygen, temperature, current flows and deposits on the bot- tom. This provides the ministry and the farmer with the ap- propriate data to monitor any environmental changes that may. be detrimental to the sur- rounding marine life, -. I believe we have to point the finger somewhere else when we wonder what happened to the salmon because farming isn’t going to put the wild stocks on the endangered species list. In fact the farming industry may be doing quite the opposite, relieving pressure on declining wild salmon stocks by offering an alternate protein source, My family has enjoyed eating farm fish for a number of years’ now. ; Presently the prices the farmer is receiving for his fish is | less than the cost of production. Opposition from the likes of Mr. Schillinger at this time is both unneeded and unfounded. Gestroying, B.C,'s,wild salmon stocks. ven Whale wraeree’ be wb add eye 4 aA gl ~GO5 rar iv’ ba ry . a ce Hen aw fia ais: eelhead quota relaxed TERRACE Sports fishermen are now allowed to keep steelhead they catch, but the provincial Fisheries branch emphasizes this only applies on the lower reaches of the Skeena and Nass Rivers, The ban on steelhead retention was introduced on the entire lengih of both rivers last summer to protect the dwindling stocks of sum- mer run steelhead. Effective Jan. 1 and until April 1, anglers can take one fish a day to a maximum of two per month bul only below Cedarvale in the case of the Skeene and its tributaries and below the Kit- sault bridge for the Nass and its tributaries. Spence said catch and release restrictions or com- plete closures still applied elsewhere in order to protect summer ran steelhead | in those waters. New regulations due to be published this spring would outline quota restrictlons for the lower Skeena and Nass after April 1, he added. » Avalanche Two snowmobilers ~ have died. |; An avalanche was the - Cause. — 4 They were on Thor- - phill-Mountain when it 1 happened. "Jt happened in the afternoon. >There were six other | people there at the time. ‘The. avalanche did not ‘T hit them, New TV show There is a new TY group in town, It is call- ed Evergreen. It hopes to put its first show on TV on Sunday, Jan. 12, The show will be all about events in Terrace. It is called Northwest Window and will last 45 to 60 minutes, _It will be shown again ~ later this month, The start ~The Start’ is. for people. learning. how to read. Drunk drivers Fourteen drinking drivers were charged by police during the holi- day season. * That is five less than ‘than last year. No-one was killed in a car crash during the _ holidays. But 15 people were injured in ac- cidents, Murder on TV ~ The story of s murder in the northwest will be on American TY next week, It will be on Unsolved Mysteries . Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. That show is on channel 6. The man who was murdered was Phillip Fraser. - The killer was never found. : | ETTERS TO THE TERRACE STANOARD | Canadians and the Portugese Time for a change | Dear Sirs; Hello again, Terrace. I have an eye-opener that I thought I'd bring it to peo- ple's attention — that is minority groups and how we treat ther. I saw one of those talk shows on which a black man and a white man with the same background, up- bringing and jobs applied for things such as housing and loans and tried to. buy a car. The black man was turned away for the housing. Yet when the white man applied, he got service with a smile and was allowed to rent the house with no problems. When the white man went for a loan he was serviced promptly. The black man was made to wait around for service and given a lecture about the seriousness of get- ting a loan. When both men went to the same car dealership, the white fellow received prompt service with a smile, The black fellow had to wait and then received service with an attitude. You wouldn't think women were a minority. lam taking a job re-entry pro- gram at the Women’s Resource Centre during which we have talked with quite a few women who are doing blue collar jobs, ‘“men’s jobs’’. These women’ have been doing those jobs since the 70s but still must constantly prove themselves. Some work places let the men take three days paid maternity Jeave, But if the women do- ing the man’s job has to leave six weeks before her due date she has to go on UIC or lie and say she has back trouble. Go figure! ,{tseems. to..me.there iso ‘a fot of discrimination :: towards minorities and. it doesn't just end with natives, Aboriginal Canadians are another major minority. ] constantly see how aboriginal people are discriminated against (I’m native myself), It is con- siderably harder for a native to get a job in these parts and a lot would like to get a job. Another example, the Nisga’a donation to the CT Scan was in the B section of the Terrace Standard whereas the Skeena Marketplace had the Filipino Canadians on the front page but no picture of the aboriginal Canadians' dona- tion, It is impossible to get housing such as rental apart- ments. My sister’s landlord built her neighbours a porch and yet when she asked for one he said he sold the wood and didn’t give her the wood to build one, It seems to me there is a Lot of discrimination towards minorities and it doesn’t just end with natives. What can we as a com- munity do about it? I’ve always asked myself this and as far as I can see it is to open people’s eyes, speak out against it and teach our young children it isn’t right. Hispanic, Aboriginal, Por- tugese, White, Black, Chinese, Vietnamese, we are all one people, one planct and it’s time we started behaving like it! We all have red blood and feelings, we're all human be- ings and it's time for at- titudes to change. os Not man, not woman, not black, not white, just plain old human beings. We all have rights and we all belong exactly where. we are at this moment, As a person and a people, stand up and say ‘‘no more”. Think about it, Now is the time to smile at another and be kind, Love one another and take care... -.- Sincerely, Dawn Wale.